The present invention relates to concertina-wire barriers and, in particular, it concerns their deployment in locations with a changing travel gradient and in locations removed from a deployment vehicle's line of travel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,279 discloses a vehicular deployment method for concertina-wire barriers along a path of travel by loading a compressed barrier onto a vehicular deployment rack, anchoring a portion of the wire to a substrate and driving along the deployment path so that the anchored concertina wire applies a tension to the compacted concertina-wire coil arrangement and stretches it longitudinally onto the deployment path. However, there are settings that pose problems for such a deployment method. During uphill deployments the coil arrangement tends to slide off the rack prematurely. Proposed deployments along routes difficult for vehicles to negotiate or along paths set apart from the existing vehicle access track render the above-mentioned method almost useless. An additional shortcoming is its inability to load the coils onto the deployment rack. U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,756 discloses a method and device employing a magazine that deploys the concertina-wire coil arrangements while being towed by a vehicle. Several shortcomings emerge when deploying the barrier over distance requiring many lengths of concertina-wire coil arrangements. Since the deployment magazine is unable to contain all the required coil arrangements together, each additional coil arrangement must either be transported to the deployment location and then loaded onto the deployment magazine, or pre-loaded onto separate deployment magazines and then transported to the deployment location. Both options suffer from shortcomings. The first option requires additional lift equipment and manpower, while the second option requires a supply of deployment magazines, transport to the deployment location, and return transport to a storage area. On site, the latter method necessitates an additional task of tracking the unloaded magazines. Upon retrieval, another problem emerges; since the deployment magazines are not configured to collect deployed concertina-coil arrangements they must be collected manually. These shortcomings exacerbate expenses, complicate deployment logistics and diminish deployment effectiveness.
There is therefore a need for a concertina-wire barrier deployment method enabling loading, deployment, and retrieval via a single vehicle. The method must be capable of efficiently deploying a number of coil arrangements along uphill travel gradients or along paths removed from available transport routes.